Stephens earns date with Serena

Tuesday

Sloane Stephens has heard a lot of advice from Serena Williams. Pointers on her groundstrokes, and even on her grunts.

It's been mostly gentle encouragement, occasionally spiced with headline-making comments from Williams, who has predicted the 19-year-old American will one day top the women's rankings.

As Stephens learned earlier this month, though, it's one thing to play with Williams, another to play against the 15-time Grand Slam champion.

When they meet Wednesday at the Australian Open, Williams will have the experience of 34 previous Grand Slam quarterfinals behind her. With a comeback 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 win over Bojana Jovanovski, Stephens qualified for her first quarterfinal at a major tournament.

"It will be tough, obviously. It's quarters of a Grand Slam," Stephens said. "There won't be that, like, first time, 'Oh, my God, I'm playing Serena.' That's kind of out of the window now. So that's good."

Next up for Azarenka is a quarterfinal against Svetlana Kuznetsova, who entered the season's first major tournament ranked No. 75 but has won titles at the 2004 U.S. Open and 2009 French Open.

On the men's side, No. 2 Roger Federer and U.S. Open champion Andy Murray stayed on course for a semifinal collision.

Federer won 6-4, 7-6 (4), 6-2 over big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic, advancing to the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam for the 35th consecutive time, while Murray took advantage of Gilles Simon's fatigue for a 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 victory.

Murray, who ended a 76-year drought for British men in Grand Slam tournaments with a win at the U.S. Open, will next play unseeded Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.

Chardy, who hit with Williams in a training camp at Mauritius at the end of 2012, followed up his upset win over 2009 U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro with a 5-7, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 victory over No. 21 Andreas Seppi.

Top-ranked Novak Djokovic, who needed five hours to beat Stanislas Warwinka in the fourth round, is on the other side of the draw. He'll face No. 5 seed Tomas Berdych today.

Williams played Stephens at the Brisbane International earlier this month, winning their quarterfinal 6-4, 6-3 en route to the title. That night, Stephens said, she "lost to the best player in the world."

But there were times in the match when the American teenager was cranky, particularly when Williams unleashed some loud and long "Come ons" to celebrate vital points.

Stephens, looking toward her coach at one point, said the celebrations were disrespectful. Later, she said she was just joking.

Regardless, it was a lesson. The friendly Serena from the locker room is the ultimate competitor -- she's on a 20-match winning roll and has lost only once since her first-round exit at the French Open.

"Obviously every match is a learning experience," Stephens said. "But, I mean, you've just got to go and treat it like another match.

"It just happens to be Serena. She's obviously one of the greatest players to ever play the game."

Stephens and Williams ran across each other in the locker room Sunday.

"She told me I was too quiet on the court," Stephens said. "Then today I was thinking to myself, 'I'm really loud. Should I tone it down a little bit?'"

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